“Those things are so rife with fraud, it’s ridiculous,” said Hans von Spakovsky, a former civil-rights attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice who is now a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “No major bank in Mexico accepts the cards. Twenty-two out of 32 Mexican states reject it.”

The push for the Matricula here is suspicious, given its lack of standing in its home country. The truth is, there is no need for it if a person is in this country legally. If they are here legally, they will have plenty of valid identification documents, including legal social security cards and legal drivers licenses. The only people who need this sham I.D. are people who can’t get legal documents from this country.

The Hispanic activist groups, like El Centro Hispano in Durham, claim that the acceptance of the matricula will prevent lengthy legal procedures. What would those procedures be? Deportation proceedings? If Durham approves this, and becomes the first city in the country gullible enough to do it, they will be giving illegals a gateway document for further fraud.

The Matricula says nothing about its carrier’s legal presence in this country. All it says is that the person is a citizen of Mexico. If this is so important, why aren’t Nicaragua, El Salvador and other central and South American countries pushing for their citizens to have similar home-country documents?

The country of Mexico is thumbing its nose at our laws, as well. Carolina Journalhas documented the efforts of the Mexican Consulate to distribute the Matricula like candy to any and all comers. They have used public high schools in the state as distribution points, which is outrageous in itself. Officials, and others cowed by groups like El Centro, will be hesitant to refuse to accept the Matricula for purposes for which is is not valid, lest they be accused of racism or xenophobia.

The Durham City Council should think about this country and our state and city for once, and not about how politically correct and progressive they will be portrayed by the media. This is a bad idea and it should be voted down. El Centro should turn its efforts into promoting legal citizenship rather than advocating the wholesale breaking of this nation’s immigration laws.

The federal Food and Drug Administration is considering requiring photos of corpses on cigarette packs. The impetus for this is the 400,000 or so folks who die of lung cancer each year.

But here’s an idea. If the FDA is really concerned about needless death, they should require posters of aborted fetuses at every Planned Parenthood clinic. After all, the number of people dying of lung cancer each year pales in comparison to the million-plus babies who are killed each year via abortion.

NOTE: I posted this before seeing Allahpundit’s update, in which he made the same point.

Jose Picart, vice provost for diversity and inclusion at N.C. State, expressed sadness that N.C. State has experienced yet another example of hate speech, saying, “As for the tunnel, I could sleep a lot easier if it were not there. … In practice, in reality, I’m disappointed to say I wouldn’t bring anyone to the tunnel.”

However, Picart later included his opinion on whether or not the tunnel should be done away with, saying, “I didn’t say the tunnel should be eliminated … [but] I would like to see it transformed in some way.”

Translation: Mr. Picart supports free speech as long it conforms to his views. This is truly scary. Reminder: it comes from NC State’s Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion.

4pm – A History and How-to of Graffitipresented by Greensboro street artist Bev Perdue. A basic run down of some of the history of graffiti in the US, along with a hands-on presentation and discussion about different tools of the trade.

Think the artist’s name is for real? I wonder if the artist has met the governor.

While the privately funded Durham group TROSA produces results and continues its outstanding work helping hard core addicts and homeless turn their lives around, Durham government’s effort to end homelessness continues in disarray.

Read it and weep — for the federal taxpayers whose money is being wasted in this government effort, and for the homeless in Durham, who in many cases suffer from addictions and mental health problems for which they truly need intense help. Earlier this year an examination found Durham’s program to end homelessness a shambles and, based on this story, nothing has improved, and it’s clearly time to end this. (emphasis is mine)

This year, though, the city and county governments decided against renewing the housing coalition’s contract to manage the 10-Year Plan and Continuum of Care application. An independent study of the 10-Year Plan found it, four years after adoption, in a state of disarray and lacking leadership and accountability.

The city and county administrations presented a new management plan to elected officials last week. But Cole-McFadden, who heads the 10-Year Plan’s executive committee, objected and presented a proposal of her own.

“One of the things that bothers me is, we want to do the same thing the same way, no innovation, no creativity,” she said. The administration proposal was sent back to the city and county managers for further work.

Further work? How long will this government debacle be allowed to continue?